Ana Villafañe

Ana Villafañe was a Cuban-American theater and film actress who broke out in 2015 for portraying Gloria Estefan in the Broadway musical "On Your Feet" (2015). Raised in Miami, Florida, Villafañe grew up idolizing Estefan and listening to her music. Estefan also grew up in Miami and like her idol, Villafañe attended the same Catholic high school, Our Lady of Lourdes Academy. It was there that Villafañe would perform some of Estefan's hits for the school talent show. A talent scout who was impressed with Villafañe's singing and acting chops saw one of those shows. Seeing a star in the making, the talent scout signed Villafañe to the Miami-based Dolphin Entertainment just one day prior to her 18th birthday. After being signed, Villafañe quickly left Miami and headed to Los Angeles, where more film and television acting opportunities awaited. In 2009 she landed an uncredited role in "I Love You Phillip Morris," and followed that up with a supporting role in "Magic City Memoirs" in 2011. 2011 was also the year Villafañe joined the cast of the award-winning web series "Los Americans," which also starred Esai Morales. With her acting career on the upswing, Villafañe appeared in a number of TV guest spots over the next few years before nabbing the part of Carmen Suarez on the Hulu series "South Beach" (2015-). Villafañe may have always envisioned herself as a film and TV actress but in the Fall of 2014 her idol, Gloria Estefan, sent out an open casting call to find the young actress that would star as her in a Broadway musical about her life. Villafañe jumped at the opportunity to send in her audition tape, and after much deliberation, beat out thousands of other applicants to win the part. "On Your Feet" debuted on Broadway in November of 2015 at the Marquis Theater. In addition to her starring role on Broadway, Villafañe returned to film acting in 2016 with a supporting role in the action-adventure sci-fi film "Max Steel."